[hakstooy]

Originally Posted by PurpleRabbit73

Is the ability to charge faster actually PROVEN??

I don't know if anyones done a test if that's what you mean, but one of the benefits of Lithium Polymer is that it accepts a partial charge MUCH faster than Li-Ion. Generally it is capable of charging to 80% in a few minutes.

-

mrmister: I have no idea what that port thing was about. If his contention is that the reason the ports were removed was for industrial design considerations, he's kidding himself.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by jeebus

You don't even know what you're talking about. Have you not seen the pictures of MBPs taken apart? Where would you like Apple to put those extra ports you want? With the HD in one corner and the optical drive in the other, there simply is no room left for ports, unless you put them on the front (and we all know Apple is not going to be doing that any time soon).

The lack of ports has nothing to do with the location of the optical drive - it is in exactly the same place on the 15" PowerBooks and they still managed to get more ports on that side of the PBs than they do on the MBP.
Personally the thing that annoys me about the missing ports is not that they are no longer default, it is that Apple doesn't include the adapters for at least the modem and maybe the S-video gratis, or at least decrease the price of the MBP relative to the PowerBook to reflect their loss. It is exceedingly cheap of them to charge extra for them, IMO, especially as the prices they are charging are excessively high as well.

[amazing]

Well, my apologies: turns out Apple is actually recommending safe sleep as a way to swap batteries:

"How to swap the MacBook Pro battery
When you swap your MacBook Pro's main battery without connecting the power adapter, the MacBook Pro will go into safe sleep mode to preserve memory contents."

"The computer needs to be asleep before you can swap the main battery. As the system goes to sleep, it will save the contents of the RAM (Random Access Memory) to the computer's hard drive. When you remove the battery, the sleep light will go out and the computer will power off."

"After you've inserted the new battery, open the lid and press the power button. The computer will start up and, using safe sleep, your system will resume where it left off when you put it to sleep."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303329

So, a tempest in a teapot that could've been avoided if Apple actually managed to provided info about new models in any sort of timely fashion. Here we are dodging flack about something that should've be noted in the original product release notes.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by mrmister

This is a straw man arguement--it's not my responsibility to design Apple's hardware--they don't pay me, and I wouldn't have the knowledge or skill to do it. They hire teams of people, the best in the world I hope, to do that.

Were you one of the people that screamed and hollered when Apple abandoned the Infrared port on the first generation of tiBooks in favor of an audio input?

Or were you one of those that screamed and hollered when they put the Infrared back in on the next-to-next generation, but had to remove the audio input due to space constraints?

Take a look at the internal design.

Now feel free to explain where what would fit, in your humble opinion.

[JKT]

It all used to fit before:



PBG4 15" is on the left and MBP is on the right.

The MBP somehow loses two ports from that list even though it is roughly the same as the PB. IIRC it is slightly lesser in height now, so one port being lost is acceptable (say the FW800) but two? Don't think so.

[mrmister]

analogika, I think you're having a reading comprehension issue--what part of "It's not my responsibility to design Apple's hardware" isn't clear? I think you need to reread my response again. Why on earth is it *my* job to engineer the laptop? As JKT says, it used to fit before--I think they did a cost/benefit analysis that tipped in favor of cheaper laptops for Apple, and against more value for the consumer. Even if that wasn't somehow the intent, it's the result.

For the record, the 1st gen TiBook has a IRda port, which was then lost a revision or two later, and it never came back after that point. I *did* like that we got something (digital audio) in exchange--as I've said in other threads, even an extra USB port would make this a lot easier to swallow.

[hakstooy]

Originally Posted by JKT

It all used to fit before:



PBG4 15" is on the left and MBP is on the right.

The MBP somehow loses two ports from that list even though it is roughly the same as the PB. IIRC it is slightly lesser in height now, so one port being lost is acceptable (say the FW800) but two? Don't think so.

That is what I call... skooled.

[Enigmaaron]

Originally Posted by JKT

It all used to fit before:



PBG4 15" is on the left and MBP is on the right.

The MBP somehow loses two ports from that list even though it is roughly the same as the PB. IIRC it is slightly lesser in height now, so one port being lost is acceptable (say the FW800) but two? Don't think so.

If you look a little closer you will notice that the laptop lock slot has move from the left side of the case over to where the USB connector was on the PowerBook. This accounts for one, and if you want to use the thickness to account for another, well there you go.

Personally I think if Apple wanted those ports on there, they would be on there. It makes perfect sense to remove the S-Video since a simple $20 adapter can accomodate the minority of people who use this outdated connection. As for FW800, well the reasons have been discussed plenty for why they may have wanted or had to drop that.

Back on topic, I was the one person who claimed a problem with smart sleeping. I believe I mave have popped the battery too soon (as in before it was actually asleep). Chalk this up to coming from an iBook which doesn't show a light on the front unless it's asleep. I've tried it a couple more times without issue.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by Enigmaaron

If you look a little closer you will notice that the laptop lock slot has move from the left side of the case over to where the USB connector was on the PowerBook. This accounts for one, and if you want to use the thickness to account for another, well there you go.

If you had a 15" PBook you would know that the security slot is also on the right hand side of the machine, just below the USB port (I didn't bother labelling it as it isn't immediately obvious in that screen grab on the left).*

The point that is being made is that there is no physical reason why more ports couldn't have been included - people keep saying look at the internals of the MBP because there isn't enough room and I have and I see no reason why the ports were removed because there is just as much room there as there is in the 15" PB. As I said above, I don't care that the ports have gone, but I find it cheap that Apple didn't give the adapters gratis in the box and instead charges (too much) for them. Also not very good PR, IMO.

* Sidenote: Actually, this has to be the dumbest of the dumbest things about the partial redesign of the MBP - if they were going to do it, why, oh why leave the security slot in the stupidest place possible for it (on the 15" PB when you use a lock it partially blocks access to the USB port and makes a) plugging in an external mouse hard to impossible and, if you succeed, b) a royal PITA to use 'cos your security cable constantly gets in the way). Grrrr. Edit: I guess it's one of the rare occasions in life where being left-handed is a big advantage.

[Enigmaaron]

Originally Posted by JKT

If you had a 15" PBook you would know that the security slot is also on the right hand side of the machine, just below the USB port (I didn't bother labelling it as it isn't immediately obvious in that screen grab on the left).*

Naturally I glance at a 12" and 17" that are around me and assume the 15" has it on the left just like them. woops.

[amazing]

Apple giveth and Apple taketh.

It doesn't take much to get cynical about Apple's design decisions. For example, why does my 1.33 12" not have gigabit ethernet, or a better display? It's a powerbook, for heaven's sake, not an iBook. Oh--wait a minute, it's actually more like a super-iBook than a Powerbook! My bad for thinking the aluminum skin meant that it was a powerbook! It's a good thing that I got it for the same price as an iBook...

As JKT says, the placement of the security slot does make it seem like the design was rushed out the door. Indeed, the fact that Jobs couldn't even mention battery figures and that the chip was upgraded rather unceremoniously almost right after Jobs' keynote address, all these seem to indicate that the design was still not set at Macworld SF. Those MBP were prototypes! Even at the time, I remember thinking how weird it was that Jobs didn't devote more oomph to the MBP announcement--he spent considerably more time on the other announcements. It was almost as if he wasn't very proud of the MBP.

I sincerely hope that all the grousing going on about design decisions and features means that Apple will notice and revise at least some things in rev B.

[RufusRyker]

Originally Posted by Daniel Bayer

Youv'e been reported.

This is harrasment.

Daniel Bayer,

You have been nominated...

for the 30th Annual Bobby Brady Hall Monitor award.

And a quick question for mrmister. Did you take your name from that lame 80s pop band? Or did you just think it was clever?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by hakstooy

I don't know the details of the systems behind the battery swap and safe sleep, but its seems to me that the old "battery swap" was simpler, a cleaner concept that had less potential to go wrong. It involved simply swapping the source of juice to the RAM while the main battery was being replaced. Safe sleep, on the other hand, is a far more involved process which, to me, seems to never have been designed for this purpose. As a result, I am curious as to its reliability in this regard.

Yes, it seems that it will work for a battery swap, but it seems overly complicated and inelegant (very un-Apple way of doing things). I'd rather have both systems, as the last PowerBooks did, than just safe sleep. Regardless, if it works, reliably, then I'm cool with that.

The old way required you to switch batteries rapidly, or risk abruptly killing power to the system. The new way allows you to have the battery out indefinately.

[RufusRyker]

Originally Posted by mduell

The old way required you to switch batteries rapidly, or risk abruptly killing power to the system. The new way allows you to have the battery out indefinately.

Exactly. I have a 15" AL and I always feel as if the Mission Impossible theme music is playing in the background when I try to swap batteries. Rarely, after I pop the battery, I'll lose the handle on the replacement and have it facing the wrong directions. If I'm half-awake, this could mean trouble. I've only lost power once or twice in the hundreds of battery swaps, but the stress of the change-over has subtracted several weeks from my lifespan -- I'm sure of it!

[PurpleRabbit73]

Originally Posted by RufusRyker

Exactly. I have a 15" AL and I always feel as if the Mission Impossible theme music is playing in the background when I try to swap batteries. Rarely, after I pop the battery, I'll lose the handle on the replacement and have it facing the wrong directions. If I'm half-awake, this could mean trouble. I've only lost power once or twice in the hundreds of battery swaps, but the stress of the change-over has subtracted several weeks from my lifespan -- I'm sure of it!

Practic makes perfect, just do it over and over again when it is shut down until u are absolute guru at it!!!

[amazing]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with insisting on some measure of common courtesy and civility in the forums. I applaud Daniel Bayer for his efforts, and wish more people would pause before hitting the "submit" button to think whether they're acting out their personal frustrations online.

For PPC laptops: Safe Sleep can be implemented in those via software (for all laptops except G3 iBooks, I believe.) If you go to versiontracker.com and search for safe sleep, you'll find the easiest way to do this. You'll also want to read the link posted in this thread to a much longer discussion with comments about how this is implemented and the ways in which it can be cancelled.

It's my vague recollection (someone please correct if necessary) that Safe Sleep requires an amount of HD equal to your RAM plus 750 MB. So for my 1.25 GB of RAM, I would surrender 2 GB of HD space (I'd rather have some more music.) Personally, I'm not willing to surrender that 2 GB of HD space from my frequently tight 60 GB HD. I'd rather spend a few seconds implementing a shut down and restart.

There's even a MBP owner in the above referenced thread wondering whether there's a way in software to turn off Safe Sleep so that he can recover some HD space.

[mrmister]

Yikes--I didn't even think about the HD space issue--signing over 2.75 GB of room so I can swap batteries isn't such an attractive option, in my opinion.

It *is* nice not to have to worry that the battery swap will go awry, and not be on a time limit, though I've never actually had it fail, so I can't say it ever stressed me out. Losing 3 GB of HD space on a 100 GB drive seems more stressful, frankly.

[theyoda3]

Nevermind, I said something stupid so I deleted it, sorry.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by mrmister

Yikes--I didn't even think about the HD space issue--signing over 2.75 GB of room so I can swap batteries isn't such an attractive option, in my opinion.

It *is* nice not to have to worry that the battery swap will go awry, and not be on a time limit, though I've never actually had it fail, so I can't say it ever stressed me out. Losing 3 GB of HD space on a 100 GB drive seems more stressful, frankly.

You don't lose 3GB though do you? Once your laptop awakens, I assume the space will be freed again straight away?

Obviously, you will need the ~ 3GB space free on the drive, but with OS X, that would be advisable anyway.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by amazing

It's my vague recollection (someone please correct if necessary) that Safe Sleep requires an amount of HD equal to your RAM plus 750 MB.

Where did you hear plus 750MB? Even Windows (haw haw let's all make fun of Micro$oft) only needs as much disk space as the RAM you've used.

Originally Posted by mrmister

Yikes--I didn't even think about the HD space issue--signing over 2.75 GB of room so I can swap batteries isn't such an attractive option, in my opinion.

It *is* nice not to have to worry that the battery swap will go awry, and not be on a time limit, though I've never actually had it fail, so I can't say it ever stressed me out. Losing 3 GB of HD space on a 100 GB drive seems more stressful, frankly.

If safe sleep is implemented intelligently, you should only need as much disk space as RAM you're actually using; if you have 2GB but are only using 800MB, you'll only need 800MB disk space. The RAM used for disk cache doesn't need to be saved when you hibernate^Wsafe sleep.

[aristotles]

This is really sad.

The battery swap without hibernate may have been cool in the late 90's to early 00's. Bragging about it or complaining about the lack of that feature now is as lame as those diehard Amiga fanatics in comp.sys.amiga.advocacy on usenet bragging about formatting a floppy while multitasking or talking about the pulldown screen feature.

Just as the floppy is now dead, being able to swap batteries without reboot not a big deal anymore with the advent of safe sleep.

[mrmister]

"Just as the floppy is now dead, being able to swap batteries without reboot not a big deal anymore with the advent of safe sleep."

Just because you state this, and add a spurious analogy doesn't make this true. Wake me up if you contribute anything to the conversation. That could include details that support your claim, evidence that safe sleep works better, timing the difference between restoring from Safe Sleep versus traditional battery swapping and so forth.

In the meantime, I'd be very interested to know how much hard drive space Safe Sleep actually uses, and whether that HD space is permanently allocated, or just when you go to sleep. If it doesn't eat up HD space all the time, and it is dependable, you might be right that it's a good replacement--perhaps you should contribute rather than smartmouthing.

I just finished looking through pages for enabling Safe Sleep on older powerbooks, and the docs I have on the MBP. I'm going to do the hack and enable Safe Sleep on this PB; I know it won't be scientific, but I want to measure this file it creates, and see if it persists all the time.

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by mrmister

Wake me up if you contribute anything to the conversation. That could include details that support your claim, evidence that safe sleep works better, timing the difference between restoring from Safe Sleep versus traditional battery swapping and so forth.

In the meantime, I'd be very interested to know how much hard drive space Safe Sleep actually uses, and whether that HD space is permanently allocated, or just when you go to sleep. If it doesn't eat up HD space all the time, and it is dependable, you might be right that it's a good replacement--perhaps you should contribute rather than smartmouthing.

I just finished looking through pages for enabling Safe Sleep on older powerbooks, and the docs I have on the MBP. I'm going to do the hack and enable Safe Sleep on this PB; I know it won't be scientific, but I want to measure this file it creates, and see if it persists all the time.

You are trolling but I'll bite.

Safe sleep will not result in data loss or hard drive corruption during a battery swap whereas the non-safe safe sleep could result in both if you fail to insert the battery in time.

Are you serious? You are worried about a small file like that? It is about the size of your physical ram plus some overhead. Are you going to complain about the swap file next? What about the temp files in /temp?

[Eug Wanker]

Per Macintouch, it appears that the MBP, in addition to losing ports, battery life and screen angle flexibility while gaining a much larger power adapter and more heat, has also lost the ability to sleep swap batteries--an ability posessed by every high-end Apple portable since the Lombard, I believe, or even earlier.

Can someone confirm who has a MBP? If it's true, it's a great loss--I use this feature *all* the time...and with the battery life on the MBP, I'd be using it even more often.

Meh. This is a non-issue for 99.9% of PowerBook/MacBook Pro users.

[m01ety]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Meh. This is a non-issue for 99.9% of PowerBook/MacBook Pro users.

Obviously so -- even if it is closer to 90%.

This mrmister character has long ago decided he does not want a MBP, and will continue to display irrationality and nitpick and find flaws no matter what. It is futile to give him any attention.

[amazing]

According to those people who seem to know the most about safe sleep, namely those people seeking to implement it in pre-MBP laptops, the hidden disk image is indeed equal to the amount of your RAM plus 750 MB (hoorah, I remembered correctly, for once.) For me, that's 2 GB that I'd rather hang onto. You'll see the reference in point #2 on the following webpage:

http://www.andrewescobar.com/archive...leep-your-mac/

Post #238 in the comments talks about an Oct '05 15" AlPB that has it implemented by default, where Josh is trying to deactivate it. The 1.5 GB disk image is recreated by default after every restart. I do believe that means you lose that HD space permanently, it is NOT surrendered after you wake up from sleep.

[mrmister]

If you actually lose 2.75 GB of space--yeah, I'd rather keep that space. The swap file doesn't actually register as lost space on the HD, and neither does temp--so if the space is gone permanently, that is a definite downside.

[Big Mac]

Of course it has to remain resident on the drive before sleep, or else you'd have to wait a lengthy period for the image to be created before the machine would sleep.

[amazing]

Well, as Big Mac, that space is gone.

The mystery is, when Apple touts the "safe sleep" advantage, as they should, why isn't there a little asterisk there leading the fine print about how much HD space is permanently used, withdrawn from our grubby little music-loving access?

Anyway, it's a trade-off that more Mac laptop users need to know about. I'd say that there should be a Pref Panel in System Prefs that allows you to turn it off (and return the HD space to you), in the same way that File Vault is optional.

So, go out and see what happens when you mention this feature to your laptop-loving friends. Do they declare you insane for saying their HDs are 2 GBs short (more if they've maxed out the RAM)? Do they say: "Tell me it ain't so?"

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by amazing

Well, as Big Mac, that space is gone.

The mystery is, when Apple touts the "safe sleep" advantage, as they should, why isn't there a little asterisk there leading the fine print about how much HD space is permanently used, withdrawn from our grubby little music-loving access?

Anyway, it's a trade-off that more Mac laptop users need to know about. I'd say that there should be a Pref Panel in System Prefs that allows you to turn it off (and return the HD space to you), in the same way that File Vault is optional.

So, go out and see what happens when you mention this feature to your laptop-loving friends. Do they declare you insane for saying their HDs are 2 GBs short (more if they've maxed out the RAM)? Do they say: "Tell me it ain't so?"

So let's say they had the retro sleep swap feature and you dropped your replacement battery while performing the swap while working on a document you forgot to save recently. How would you feel then?

It is a compromise. You lose a little bit of space (out of 80GB or more) in return for some piece of mind. If it is not stored on the HD in a file, where do you expect it to be stored?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by mrmister

The swap file doesn't actually register as lost space on the HD

How do you figure? You can't use the swap space for anything else.

[mrmister]

Hmmm. I don't know--I just know that when I look at my available space, and add up everything on my drive with WhatSize, the Finder isn't reporting it. Now, if I actually fill the laptop up to within a few gigs of completely full, then I expect to find out the hard way.

"So let's say they had the retro sleep swap feature and you dropped your replacement battery while performing the swap while working on a document you forgot to save recently. How would you feel then?"

I would feel like I dropped my battery. Since I've been swapping batteries this way for six or seven years, and it hasn't happened yet, I would say for me it's not much of an upside. I guess if I did actually

But I just swapped my hard drive in this PB, because I was running out of space--so I KNOW that HD space is at a premium for me.

Perhaps your milage will vary, but I think it's another New Apple Feature--two steps forward, one step back.

[inkhead]

I for one am glad their is no s-video port or modem port on the new computer. More ports to break, get dirty or cause problems with the board. S-Video is technology from the 80's. For the 3 people using it, they should buy a freaking cable. As far as a dial-up modem... Seriously? Who needs this? And if you are one of the few who do.. get the usb one. I don't want to be punished with extra ports, and weight because a few people want to continue to support legacy stuff forever.

This is why some PCs still have freaking floppy drives...

[mrmister]

I think your position is a bit silly, but I'll bite--don't you think if that's all true that they should have given us at least one more USB port, then? As it now stands you can't use a mouse, a modem and a printer at the same time without a hub--while a lowly mac mini can.

If USB2 is modern, un-80's tech--though I thought that's the bill of sale they tried to sell FW800 on, and it's gone--shouldn't we have gained flexibility in this transition by gaining a port, or (gasp) even two?

As for me, I think it would have helped ameliorate a lot of my complaints.

[Kyros]

Does anyone else think that 3.5 hours is unacceptably low battery life? My 12 inch G4 powerbook sometimes hits 5 hours under the right conditions and it still feels like too little to me. I guess that's why I want a Pismo, 2 high cap batteries plus the G4 550 upgrade should make it a hell of a computer.

[mrmister]

I suspect that others agree that it is unacceptably low, but are keeping quiet as they'll be shouted down by those who are SUPER HAPPY WITH EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING!

I can't go back to the Pismo--I'm spoiled by my AlBook--but I need to be able to hit 4+ hours at the least on a fresh, new battery. Maybe with Merom chips?

[amazing]

What are the right conditions for a 12" 1.5 to hit 5 hours?

Anyway, you can now buy a 12" 55.5 watthour battery, vs the 50 watthour original. If you get 2 of those you'll be cooking.

[msieben]

Originally Posted by Kyros

Does anyone else think that 3.5 hours is unacceptably low battery life? My 12 inch G4 powerbook sometimes hits 5 hours under the right conditions and it still feels like too little to me. I guess that's why I want a Pismo, 2 high cap batteries plus the G4 550 upgrade should make it a hell of a computer.

Are you serious? Do you go out in public?

I dont care if I get banned straight away, who are some of you people? I am mainly referring to anyone who doesn't advocate or understand frustration with those who ignore and negate FACTS, and think someone is being mean for calling these doof's on their BS...

I mean, REALLY!

[bigwavepower]

Originally Posted by mrmister

Per Macintouch, it appears that the MBP, in addition to losing ports, battery life and screen angle flexibility while gaining a much larger power adapter and more heat, has also lost the ability to sleep swap batteries--an ability posessed by every high-end Apple portable since the Lombard, I believe, or even earlier.

Can someone confirm who has a MBP? If it's true, it's a great loss--I use this feature *all* the time...and with the battery life on the MBP, I'd be using it even more often.

Just a note from a newbee for the ipod world and mp3 and etc....I use a Titan I universal portable power charger that powers up my ipod g4 and it also powers up my cell phone at the same time. I am also the manufacturer of this product. It can be seen at http://www.bigwavepower.com I can use it in the park/on the plain/in the office or car....

[inkhead]

It's a notebook computer for portability. You throw it in a a bag and go. If your planning to keep it on your desk. with a mouse, ADDITIONAL KEYBOARD, and a printer. Just get a usb hub, so you can only connect 1 cable to the mac... less wear and tear than it would be to connect 3 cables everytime you sat down.

I don't know about you, but all my printers are wireless.

Originally Posted by mrmister

I think your position is a bit silly, but I'll bite--don't you think if that's all true that they should have given us at least one more USB port, then? As it now stands you can't use a mouse, a modem and a printer at the same time without a hub--while a lowly mac mini can.

If USB2 is modern, un-80's tech--though I thought that's the bill of sale they tried to sell FW800 on, and it's gone--shouldn't we have gained flexibility in this transition by gaining a port, or (gasp) even two?

As for me, I think it would have helped ameliorate a lot of my complaints.

[msieben]

Originally Posted by bigwavepower

Just a note from a newbee for the ipod world and mp3 and etc....I use a Titan I universal portable power charger that powers up my ipod g4 and it also powers up my cell phone at the same time. I am also the manufacturer of this product. It can be seen at http://www.bigwavepower.com I can use it in the park/on the plain/in the office or car....

I love plugging in my ipod G4 in the park or while on a plain, for the POWER!

Again, WHAT????

[slffl]

m01ety, talk about ignorant. I have had a 17" RevA for 3 years now. I just got a MBP a few weeks ago. I agree with mrmister on all of his points and you sound like an Apple fanboy who can't stand to have negative things said about their products.

I love Apple's products, however, the MBP has major usability issues and if I could return mine I would, but your almighty Apple doesn't allow returns.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by slffl

I love Apple's products, however, the MBP has major usability issues and if I could return mine I would, but your almighty Apple doesn't allow returns.

They do within 14 days... why did you keep it for 2 weeks before realising it had "major usability issues"?

[mrmister]

"I don't know about you, but all my printers are wireless."

Mine are as well--but I don't control what the printers I run across on the road are using, and that's exactly where I don't feel like bringing a hub with me.

[m01ety]

Originally Posted by mduell

They do within 14 days... why did you keep it for 2 weeks before realising it had "major usability issues"?

Careful, now -- don't try to use logic, or you'll be reported for harassment.

As for me, I'm off to conetmplate how precisely I'm responsible for "my" Apple's return policies...

[slffl]

Originally Posted by mduell

They do within 14 days... why did you keep it for 2 weeks before realising it had "major usability issues"?

Um no they don't! Not on 'custom' orders. You know, the highly customized orders with a different CPU and harddrive that they wouldn't be able to sell refurbished if you returned it.

I realized it within a day. I COULDN'T return it!.

And don't worry m01erty, you will NEVER be reported for harassment.

[bernt]

My brother sent back a CTO (customize-to-order) PowerBook (Double-layer SD) because of screen problems within the first 14 days. He had ordered the 100gb 7200 drive. Strange why you couldn't do it.

Also, why wont Apple be able to sell a CTO machine with better CPU and harddrive? Doesn't make sense.

[bernt]

Double post, sorry

[analogika]

Originally Posted by bernt

My brother sent back a CTO (customize-to-order) PowerBook (Double-layer SD) because of screen problems within the first 14 days. He had ordered the 100gb 7200 drive. Strange why you couldn't do it.

Also, why wont Apple be able to sell a CTO machine with better CPU and harddrive? Doesn't make sense.

I returned my defective CTO machine three years ago, as well.

That's a different matter, though, since these machines were actually defective.

Buying something and then deciding that you don't like it does not qualify.

Although, as of fairly recently, German law mandates that you may return within 14 days any item purchased via internet mail-order.

[SpaceRockness]

Originally Posted by amazing

What are the right conditions for a 12" 1.5 to hit 5 hours?

Anyway, you can now buy a 12" 55.5 watthour battery, vs the 50 watthour original. If you get 2 of those you'll be cooking.

I have a 12" 1.33Ghz, more than a few times I've had 5 hours life as long as I kept one bar of brightness and running AppleWorks for a wordprocessor instead of MS Word 2004... using MS Word it would chew an additional 10-15 min of run time. I would believe with a 12" 1.5Ghz the battery life wouldn't be that far off. Also I usually dim my screen to zero screen brightness when a prof stops for a few minutes skimming through his/her lecture notes or a classmate asks a repeat of a term+definition.

As far as my 12" PB's battery, its about 27 months old still packs about 4380 Ah(it originally shipped with a 4800 Ah rating which XBattery reported). heh, I may buy a spare battery just because I love the portability of my 12" PB over my older 15" 1.25Ghz PowerBook which collects dust on my desk as its battery life never reached past 3.3 hours no matter what I had tried

In my opinion based on various battery reports, the MBP still holds a reasonable chance of battery life improvement on the next revision and maybe FW800 will return. I think the OP has reasonable claim/issue with the change but all first revisions get the shaft in some degree then its fixed... the first two 12" PowerBook revisions shipped with a crappy VGA output and later received mini-DVI.
Overall I'd rather buy an Apple portable because I've had great luck with them, every PC notebook which either was issued to me or I bought as a refurb were awful experiences- mainly PC tech support is on a quota, if they can't help within 8 minutes they rudely hang up.

*sigh* Never had tech support hell with Apple, Cingular or T-Mobile